KEXP DJs John Richardson and Kevin Cole got to hear a cut off the new White Stripes album during their semi-annual week long New York tenure. The president of V2 records wouldn't let them take the record with them (alas, so no sneak pre-hear), but they described the track they heard as "Disco Led Zepplin".

I have no idea what that means. Could be great--it should be interesting, if nothing else.

NME speculates a mid-June release date, but Jack White has been known to sit on a finished album before <cough><Elephant><cough>.

i liked the variety on the new cd. It helps finding a site with lyrics (i did). I'd have taken a bit more guitars but i ain't complaining. Top favorites include "Blue Orchid", "Little Ghost", "Denial Twist", "Take Take Take" and "The Nurse". Growing on me are "As Ugly as I Seem" and the weirdly funny "I'm Lonely". Hey, i wanna hear more Meg singing than 35 seconds!

Icky Thump rules! Great songwriting, great music, love them bagpipes in "Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn" and the trumpet in the Patti Page song, "Conquest". My favorite three songs (three cuz it's the Stripes' fave number) from the album are: "Rag and Bone", "I'm Slowly Turning into You" and "Martyr for My Love for You". Meg's vocals are kinda Yoko Ono-esque on "St. Andrew (This Battle Is in the Air)" but i love the banter between her and Jack on "Rag and Bone". A real winner of an album, back to the Led Zeppelin-esque sounds of yore and them punky-blues sounds. Yay!

My fave tracks so far are "You Don't Understand Me", "Old Enough" and "Attention". Much better than their first album but still not in the same hemisphere as the Stripes. Should hold us over til the next Stripes comes out.The Raconteurs Myspace